Cambodia Claims End of Scam Compounds, Experts Urge Caution

The Cambodian government has announced that it has fully dismantled all large-scale online scam compounds operating within its borders, a claim that has drawn immediate skepticism from human rights groups and regional security analysts.

Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith, who leads the government's anti-scam task force, made the declaration during a briefing with foreign diplomats on Thursday. A statement released the following day said that "large-scale scam activities have been brought fully under control, and there are currently no online scam compounds remaining in the country."

The statement acknowledged that criminal networks have adapted by shifting to smaller, decentralized operations, using guesthouses, condominiums, rental homes, vehicles, and coffee shops as makeshift bases. Authorities say they are continuing to target these dispersed activities.

Amnesty International's co-regional director, Montse Ferrer, expressed deep doubt about the government's assertion. She noted that the scam industry, worth billions of dollars, has deep-rooted connections within the country. "The true test of long-term success is not how many compounds have closed, but whether the actors responsible have been investigated, prosecuted and prevented from resuming operations," she said.

Since the pandemic, scam compounds—largely run by Chinese criminal syndicates—have proliferated across Southeast Asia, including in Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines, as well as in lawless zones along the Myanmar-Thailand border. These sites have housed tens of thousands of workers, many of whom were trafficked and subjected to brutal conditions.

Cambodian authorities report that since July 2025, they have investigated 793 suspected locations, raided 624 sites, and detained nearly 30,000 suspects from 39 nationalities.

Jacob Sims, a visiting fellow at Harvard University specializing in transnational crime, acknowledged that international pressure has caused significant disruption to the large compounds. However, he warned that the repression of civil society and independent media in Cambodia makes it difficult to verify the government's claims. "The bigger risk for the international community is confusing visible disruption with dismantling the underlying networks and political protection that made the industry possible," he said.